Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the opening of the New York Green Bank, which will work to encourage private sector financing and speed up the conversion to a more cost-effective, resilient and clean energy system.

“The NY Green Bank will be the catalyst for significantly accelerating the flow of private capital to energy efficiency and renewable energy projects and will send a message to the financial markets that expanding our clean energy economy is a priority for New York State,” Governor Cuomo said. “Today’s announcement that the NY Green Bank is ‘open for business’ confirms the State’s unwavering commitment to a more cost effective and resilient energy system, to creating green jobs and to providing a cleaner environment for all New Yorkers.”

Entitled proposers consist of energy services firms, equipment makers as well as people that provide equipment, products and/or companies in the renewable energy industry.

Flat Fresnel Lenses can Increase Electrical Output

Y. Cheng, X.D. Zhang and G.X. Zhang of the State Key Laboratory of Precision Measuring Technology & Instruments, at Tianjin University, in China, have developed a technology that allows them to craft the necessary surface structures on a Fresnel lens, an array of microscopic cones, rather than concentric ridges, so that incident light is brought to a point at a more precise depth on the photoactive layer in the panel.

Initial tests with their precision-machined Fresnel solar collector showed that they could obtain a peak power four times that possible with a standard panel at low resistance. The difference in power falls off quickly as the device’s resistance rises, which it does as it gets hotter under sunlight and as a byproduct of its generating electricity. Nevertheless, the differential would be enough to boost its electrical output substantially offsetting the additional cost of the Fresnel collector so that the overall cost of solar panels might be reduced. This simple addition to older, less efficient solar panels might also make them viable for places and applications where modern devices of higher intrinsic efficiency are not commercially tenable.

Spectrum Energy Development Inc (SEDI), selected the CPS 100kW model based on Chint’s reputation for value – the best cost with excellent performance. According to Donald Osborn, President of SEDI, “We chose Chint since we knew we could count on their performance, and they drove down costs that improved our project economics. It’s a win-win-win, we get excellent installed cost, improved performance and great support.” The PV System was dedicated Feb 8 as part of the Madera Wine Trail Event in Madera, CA (http://maderawinetrail.com/ ).